Spacecraft, whether in orbit or on a trajectory to a distant celestial body, are subject to a variety of different attitude disturbing torques. For a spacecraft with solar wings that is travelling in most any earth orbit, one of the most troublesome of these is solar pressure on the surface of the spacecraft. Because solar wings are typically far away from the spacecraft's center of mass and have a large surface area, solar wings typically generate substantial solar pressure disturbance torques. In order to compensate for these disturbance torques, it is known to mount a magnetic torquing coil on the solar wing as described, for example, in Reissue Patent No. 29,177 to Michaelis. A magnetic torquing coil on the solar wing has the advantage over a magnetic torquing coil on the spacecraft main body in that it operates from a point which is distant from the spacecraft center of mass and the resulting torque is always aligned with the solar pressure vector. The solar wing acts as a lever arm on the spacecraft main body enhancing the effectiveness of the magnetic torquing coil. However, the magnetic coil adds a significant amount of weight to the spacecraft and consumes power which might otherwise be used to operate components on the spacecraft main power bus.